The proof of affection:
Not all those who love are gratified by their loved ones, nor all those who are called respond.
When the lovers hear the call of their beloved Lord: “Come to prayer; come to success”, they get out of their beds, push sleep away, and rise up to their feet, be it in the extreme cold or the severe heat. It is as if they are walking on silk. And when they hear: “Come to struggle”, they rush to sacrifice their lives and shed their blood in the cause of their Lord.
When {...spend from what We have provided for you...}
[Surat al-Baqarah: 254]
is recited to them, they vie with one another in giving from their most precious and dearest possessions. They give like those who do not fear poverty.And when they hear
{...and due to Allah upon the people is pilgrimage to the House...}
[Surat Āl ‘Imrān: 97],
they come from all places and directions and cross long distances and rough terrain, weary and thirsty, saying: “Here we are, our Lord, at Your service. There is no partner with You.”
Their condition is that of true lovers. A poet says it rightly:
“He whose heart is empty of intense love cannot know how love grips the heart so powerfully.”
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Rūmi said: “Love turns bitterness into sweetness, dust into gold, trouble into ease, pain into recovery, prison into a spacious garden, ailment into a blessing, and oppression into mercy. It relents and softens what is hard and stiff, and it resurrects the dead and instills life into them.”
My Lord, I hope to make You pleased and I do not care if all people become displeased with me.
If I obtain Your affection and love, I do not mind if my relation sours with everyone else. All that is now above dust will one day turn into dust.
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy upon him) said about love:“It is the secret in our deification of Allah, and its monotheism is: There is no god except Allah.”While the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) was delivering aspeech to the people, a Bedouin stood up and said: “When will the Hour be, O Messenger of Allah?” He said: “What have you prepared for it?” He replied:
“I have not prepared for it much prayer, fasting, or charity. But I love Allah and His Messenger.” The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: “You will be with those you love.”
[Narrated by Al-Bukhāri and Muslim]
I love the righteous, though I do not claim to be one of them, hoping to attain intercession because of them. And I hate those who frequently sin, even if they and I are alike in this regard.
